Selective Ignorance
by Boudicca1
Summary: A sorcerer attacks Camelot again. Merlin stops him. He just wished that Arthur and his dad hadn't seen the whole thing.
1. Deliberate Disregard

The day had started out perfectly normally. Merlin dragged himself out of his bed at an egregiously early hour and stumbled down to the kitchens to collect his charge's breakfast from the equally exhausted staff and then made his way to Arthur's chambers. He then proceeded to resume his usual routine of barging in without so much as a knock and subjecting Arthur to an inhumanly cheerful getting, resulting in his head becoming rather intimately aquatinted with a goblet traveling at high velocity. They engaged in their usual witty banter as Merlin helped prepare Arthur for the meeting he had with his father.

Once begun, said meeting proceeded as they are wont to do, with Merlin standing awkwardly in the background whilst Arthur and his father disagreed over various political matters. Merlin had begun to drift off into his thoughts, so it came as a rather large surprise when the huge stained glass window overlooking the throne room shattered into millions of pieces.

Once, just once, Merlin wished they would get attacked by a sorcerer that had a semblance of respect for personal property, but was reminded of the situation when he saw the slack-jawed looks of shock plastered across his companions' faces.

Unlike most villains, this one didn't seem to be predisposed to lengthy monologues, as he launched right into attacking without giving so much as his name.

Due to the lack of proper warning, Merlin failed to respond for a moment, giving the sorcerer enough time to shorten the distance between himself and his intended targets, and hurled a ball of fire at Arthur's head. Caught off guard, Merlin instinctively sprinted in front of it and it was dispersed by the shield he conjured.

The sorcerer looked up at him in shock and sneered.

"Well, if it isn't the great Emrys, the traitor to all of our kind. You're still defending your precious prince, I see."

On the bright side, this revelation distracted the sorcerer from Arthur. Conversely, it now meant he was out for Merlin's blood.

He threw himself into battle once more, launching a barrage of assaults that, if Merlin were not indeed Merlin, would surely have torn him to bits, burned them, and stomped on the pieces. As it was, Merlin deflected them with a flick of his wrist.

By now, he was decidedly unhappy. All he wanted was a week without poorly thought out plans from imbecilic sorcerers. Was that too much to ask?

Tired and pissed off, Merlin decided to end things quickly. With a move of his hand, he threw the sorcerer back through the hole he had rudely created in the side of the castle. Satisfied that return would be unfeasible for the man, he repaired the damage to the glass. He wouldn't want to cause extra stress for his friends in the masonry guild.

Feeling rather pleased with himself, Merlin turned around to leave the room, and was then immediately reminded that he was not, in fact, alone. Not only was Arthur looking at him with an undisguised look of shock and concern, but Uther's eyes were not, in fact full of fear and anger, but intrigue and calculation.

"Um... er... I can explain," began Merlin, when Uther cut him off.

"I'm sure you can, but I don't want to hear it. The less I know about this, the better," he concluded and now Merlin joined Arthur in looking dumbstruck as Uther continued:

"Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't stop you," he concluded, as he exited the chambers, his cape billowing out behind him.

Merlin and Arthur stared at each other.

"Merlin," Arthur began, "what the fuck just happened?"


	2. Deleterious Defenestration

**So this was originally intended to be a oneshot, but then people started following it, so I felt it was only fair for me to add more. I apologize because this doesn't actually advance the plot; it's just an outsider view on the events of the first chapter. I'm not really good at plot, so it's unlikely that I'll continue this story. That being said, I felt that I should give you guys something, so here it is.**

 **UPDATE 9/13/17 I'm going to continue this story for at least another chapter, and it's gonna be Uther's POV. It's not done, and it won't be for a while, but it's happening :-)**

Dennis loved his job. Well, most of the time. Okay, usually. Or on days when a sorcerer didn't attack the city and destroy all of the architecture in Camelot and get unceremoniously defeated anyway. So, basically days that don't end in "y".

It would be prudent to mention that Dennis was a member of the masonry guild. In other words, he toiled for many sleepless nights in order to produce beautiful art or practical fortification only for it to get blasted to bits the next week.

Dennis really hated evil sorcerers. Not all sorcerers, of course. Even Merlin, the prince's manservant, had magic. It was technically supposed to be a secret, but let's be real. Maybe Merlin was oblivious to the fact that the citizens of Camelot weren't actually idiots, but Dennis was pretty sure even Uther had noticed.

So yeah, Dennis didn't hate all sorcerers, just the ones that smashed through his brand new stained-glass window for no reason other than his desire for a dramatic entrance. It's not like the throne room was lacking in the window department, but nooooooo, even when it's practically a given that the evil plan will fail, hey, at least they took out a window! Good job evil sorcerer! Really fucking badass. That'll teach those dictatorial windows to stop trying to oppress us!

Sorry; Dennis' internal monologue got away from him there for a moment.

Suffice to say that Dennis had been walking down the street, trying to find some spare copper for his new sundial, when he hears a huge crash. Dreading what he was going to see, he slowly lifted his head in the direction of the palace. Sure enough, his masterpiece had exploded into millions of pieces.

Dennis suddenly felt the urge to smash his head against the nearest hard surface, repeatedly. He took deep, calming breaths, trying to quash his desire to give up and move to Cenred's kingdom.

When he finally felt calm enough, he looked back at the castle, only to see his window in pristine condition once again.

Maybe Camelot wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
